Открытый северТуристический портал Архангельской области

The cave Golubinskiy proval

The cave is situated on the right bank of the Pinega river on the territory of the Golubinskiy geological reserve, about 17 km from the Pinega settlement. Its length is 1 622 metres, square is 5 267 m2, volume is 8 255 m3, and amplitude is 17 m.

The entrance to the cave is situated in the mouth of the ravine Tarakaniya Shelya. There is a little platform from which you can see picturesque rocky ravine’s walls and the steady descent to the cave with the wooden staircase starts here.

The cave’s roof is situated at a depth of 17 m to 37 m. There are three tiers of passages, representing the stages of its development.

The Golubinskiy proval starts from the large entrance grotto (hall) with the height about 9 m and sizes of 15x20 m. The vault is descending deep into the cave. On the floor there is block talus. From this grotto deep into the cave there are several passages. The cave is frozen in this area so much that after the spring flood water covers with ice again and the snowy crystals appear on the walls.

30 m away from the entrance grotto there is the hall – Forum, elongated in the sublatitudal direction.Its height is about 5 m, and its size is 8x24 m.The construction is arch, the floor is pedimental with single blocks.The bottom of the hall has the track of the temporary stream along which the creek flows during the spring flood.

In the north-east of the hall Forum starts the main tunnel which is 500 m long.The section is oval, diamond and complex. The width is from 2,5 to 4 m, the height is from 1,2 to 3 m. The floor is pedimental. On the walls you can see the cell of sculpture symbols of pressure streams.

The northern zone of the passage is called Metro. The width is about 5 m, the height is to 4 m. This is the most voluminous part of the cave. In spring the passage is flooded with water. In the distant area of the Metro passage there are fireplaces, referring to the crossed knots tectonic cracks.They are the vertical channels opening in the vault of the tunnel.15 m to the north from two adjoining fireplaces (the height is from 5 to 7 m, diameter is from 1,5 to 3 m) the youngest fireplace Rakovina (height – 4 m,diameter is about 1 m) with the constant undulated stream is situated .The water flowing from the fireplace makes musical sounds in the silence of the cave. The hole in the gypsum wall is washed by the water.

Walking along the Metro passage, you will get into the Round hall. Its height is from 1,5 to 6 m, the size is 7,5x16,5 m. The eastern border of the hall is landslide. The section is arch and rectangular. The block floor in the western direction turns into the steep talus. To the north from the Round hall (in 55 m) there is the low passage. Its width is from 3,5 to 5 m, the height is from 0,9 to 1,5 m. The floor is covered with clay. The passage ends with the siphon.

The cave’s territory is mainly dry. There are two streams: the northern and the southern. The length of the northern stream is 30 m and the length of the southern one is 20 m. The ice and water-mechanical formations are typical for the cave. The ice formations emerged in the supercooled part of the cave’s entrance. For the whole year the ice crystals and frost form here. There are the multi-year ices: the ice shape, the lode ice and the firn ice. In winter because of the cold and unstable weather the pieces of the crust taking the little holes in the walls and in the floor of the main passage and spreading 100 m deep into the cave from the Forum hall.

The clays, the aleurites, the loams and the sands represent the water-mechanical formations of the cave. Their maximum thickness is 3,7 m. In the clays there are two horizons with the formations of the radial fibrous gypsus and in the base of the section there are the pieces of the carbon crust. The age of the cave filling is about 7,8- 10,2 thousand years. The carbon formations are quite rare and precious cave’s decorations.

The bats lives in the cave in winter. They live in its warm part, in the holes and in the distant places. You can see them only if you look carefully around the cave.

Along the main passage the cave is easy to walk through. The tourists and the local citizens often visit it.